A Mystery
10,000 years ago, Equestria lived in peace under the rule of two alicorns, King Solaris and Queen Nighttide and their young daughters, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna, who ruled from the comfort of the crystal empire. Then one day the royal family had to leave the empire on a diplomatic mission for 2 weeks. When they returned, the found their castle had changed drastically, their subjects were in chains, and the empire was ruled over by a pony they've never met nor heard of- a unicorn who named himself king called Sombra. After hiding the children a safe distance, they launched a surprise attack on the new tyrant, defeating him with a surprising amount of ease. However, it was Sombra who had the last laugh as he had placed a fail safe curse with some kind of dark magic on the empire, seemingly destroying it. The King and Queen gathered their daughters and left for a small forest near a colony with sorrow, saddened by the fact that they failed in their duty to protect the ponies they had promised to protect. Eventually a new castle was constructed for the Royal family who took great care of ponykind for the remainder of their lives.
No one ever learned of where King Sombra came from, or where he learned his dark magic, but-
"Aw come on Twi! You couldn't have read us something more interesting like an adventure of Daring Do?" Rainbow Dash interrupted, earning her a irritated look from Twilight. The Mane Six had been working in the ruins of the Princesses former home, still trying to fix it up some, and see what all they could recover when Spike accidentally pulled a book that was yet another secret lever that opened a door to a hidden room. Inside was a well kept room filled beautiful decorations. Twilight guessed that the room must of been vacuumed sealed, thus keeping the room in a state of suspended animation from when the last visitor was her, whom Rarity guessed was Celestia due to her cutie mark being on a wall, and on the back of the door. There was a Desk, a desk chair, and a book shelf, there wasn't much on the shelf, however, there was one that Fluttershy quietly noted that might interest Twilight. It was a dark blue book with a familiar hat shape on it's cover. The cover itself was a mystery to Twilight as she had never seen, nor felt a cover such as this. Rarity solved that mystery by claiming it was made out of artificial leather, she had been helping Sweetie Bell with her homework on history and learned a little about the subject of what materials ancient ponies used to use. Flipping through a few pages, Twilight realized that this was the journal of Star Swirl the Bearded. She then put it in her saddle bags so she could return it to the Princess later. By the time they were done, it was getting dark, so they used the camping equipment they brought to spend the night there, and Pinkie Pie had the brilliant idea of campfire stories. Twilight thought digging into Star Swirl's Journal would be fun, unfortunately it seemed Rainbow Dash didn't share her opinion.
"I didn't bring any Dash, but if you really want an interesting story, you could always go to the castle library. Who knows, maybe you'll discover you'll find another trap door or secret lever." Twilight replied with a teasing grin. She knew Rainbow Dash hated being in the castle at night, after her and Apple Jack's little contest that one time.
"Yeah I think I'll pass, I wouldn't be able to see any of the books in there, so I wouldn't be able to find any awesome books for us to read as a campfire story!" Rainbow Dash said nervously.
"Aw what's the matter Dash? Afraid the Pony of Shadows is gonna get ya?" Apple Jack teased with a chuckle
Rainbow Dash glared back at Apple Jack "Hey you were just as scared as I was that day!"
"Ah wasn't nearly as scared as you were!" Apple Jack retorted.
"Yeah? Well it was your idea to come here in the first place that day!"
Twilight started to tune Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack out as she knew it was only a matter of time before one of them suggested a competition to see which one of them could out last the other in some regard. The rest of the group had already fallen asleep from listening to Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack go at each other. Still curious about the journal, Twilight returned to where she left off.
No one ever learned of where King Sombra came from, or where he learned his dark magic, but I have my theories. The only records I have at my disposal say the same thing, King Sombra came seemingly out of nowhere before taking over the Chrystal Empire. I've asked the King and Queen if there were any surviving ponies, or if anypony managed to leave a clue as to where Sombra came from, but they glumly said that whatever spell destroyed the empire was very thorough, as not even the tiniest trace of the empire survived. Speaking of this spell, I am puzzled by it's nature, and may have a theory about it. While I am young, I have learned one scientific fact about the universe. Matter and Energy cannot be destroyed, only turned from one form, to another. While magic can defy some physics, even it cannot break this law of physics the universe has laid down. However, Dark Magic is an unknown form of magic, one which the Royal family has forbidden to be used, or attempted. Did this Sombra find a way of destroying matter through his Dark Magic, or does his power obey the the same physics normal unicorn magic does? If the latter, than the Chrystal Empire may not be lost to Equestria permanently as we thought. If the former, then what other miracles can it's dark power do? That answer we'll never know, as Dark Magic is currently foreign to us.
Which reminds me, one of my theories is that Sombra himself may have been a foreigner. According to my records, Dark Magic was never even rumored about until Sombra came to power. There are two explanations for this. One is that Sombra was originally a Chrystal Pony, who learned Dark Magic, and such negativity cost him his Chrystal coat. With the Chrystal Empire complete vanishing, all records of Sombra's rise to power would have gone with it. The second explanation for this is that while the Royal family was away, Sombra arrived from another country and single hoofingly conquered the empire. Of course with the lack of records, evidence, or even a witness statement from some lost passing by merchant, I can do nothing but theorize about Sombra and his magic. Perhaps future generations will be able to solve this mystery with further advances of magic.
Reaching the end of the entry, Twilight put the journal back into her saddle bag, and with a yawn tucked herself into her sleeping bag. Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack apparently had finished their argument and fallen asleep. Knowing those two, they probably were contesting over who could fall asleep the fastest. With the fire burning out, Twilight closed her eyes and went to sleep, pondering the mystery of King Sombra that Star Swirl the Bearded laid before her.
Author's Note
While this is a short chapter, I'm planning on making future chapters longer, I hope.
Any helpful criticisms are welcome, and please feel free to point out any spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors.
